SCIFOO 2007

SCIFOO 2007

Every year Edge publishes a Summer Postcards edition. For the 2007 edition, here are photos (mine and those of other Edge contributors) from SciFoo Camp—the unclassifiable O'Reilly/Nature/Google meeting of the minds now in its second year. —George Dyson

SCIFOO 2007
A Photo Essay by George Dyson

Every hour there was at least one session I wished I could have attended, but the one I will single out here is "Give us your Data! Google's effort to archive and distribute the world's scientific datasets" by Noel Gorelick (formerly of NASA and now at Google). For a conference on the future of biology, technology, and science, meeting at Google's global headquarters, this was a rare session that focused explicitly on how Google is changing the landscape. Rather, Google now is the landscape, and the success of SciFoo offers ample demonstration of that.

(GEORGE DYSON:) The impossible choice at SciFoo is whether to attend sessions on people and subjects you know, or sessions on people and subjects you don't know anything about. It's a lot like going to a new restaurant—for 11 meals in a row. Do you want to see how "Quantum Computing" is served here (well-done, by Frank Wilczek) or do want to sample something you have never seen on the menu before?

The session that left me most impressed was a subject I've heard discussed many times: "Asteroid and Near-Earth-Object Defense", presented by Pete Worden, now director of NASA Ames. Worden, whose multiple careers within the Air Force, Capitol Hill, and now NASA, gives him a unique perspective on how, both politically and technically, we might actually get something done, outlined a refreshingly realistic plan (off the record!) for manned exploration missions to nearby asteroids using existing space vehicles, and, better yet, a vision for super-low-cost unmanned reconnaissance of near-earth objects using repurposed micro-satellites that were originally developed for "Star Wars" defense. His solution is obvious, both for science and global security: the sooner we get in the habit of landing on things that approach earth closely, the better we will understand them and the less likely we are to get caught by one unawares.

Every hour there was at least one session I wished I could have attended, but the one I will single out here is "Give us your Data! Google's effort to archive and distribute the world's scientific datasets" by Noel Gorelick (formerly of NASA and now at Google). For a conference on the future of biology, technology, and science, meeting at Google's global headquarters, this was a rare session that focused explicitly on how Google is changing the landscape. Rather, Google now is the landscape, and the success of SciFoo offers ample demonstration of that.

Who was missing? A long list, but here's one suggestion: Mark Hofer (science teacher and internship program leader at Blue Origin, Seattle) and about 12 high school or undergraduate students of his choice.

Schedule Board

(STEVE JURVETSON:) There is no predefined agenda; instead attendees collaboratively create one during the first evening of the event.

Right now, I am listening to a discussion of entropy and the mathematics of time by Lee Smolin, Jaron Lanier and Neal Stephenson…

So many cool but concurrent sessions… I’m open to your votes on which ones to attend…

Among the highlights: "Visual Garage—We'll Fix Your Graphs and Visuals" with Felice Frankel and Stefan Sagmeister. The mix of disciplines—science, medicine, design—contributed to a dialog that offered useful insights. Had a great conversation with Felice afterwards on some representation challenges I'm addressing at the moment.

"Where are the Aliens" with David Grinspoon reminded us that many ideas we easily embrace today were initially considered heretical.

I was sorry to have missed George Dyson's session Godel and the Draft Board.

More? a few more physicists, a few more designers...

Schedule Board

Photo by Steve Jurvetson

(STEVE JURVETSON:) Freeman Dyson added personal remembrances to a wonderful historical tale by George Dyson about Gödel’s difficulties with government bureaucracies while trying to return to Princeton from Austria during WWII… then trying to get his “enemy alien” designation removed…. and then getting promptly drafted. The series of absurd telegrams highlighted the inconsistency and incompleteness of the formal systems of law.